Movie review: Knightley crackles in 'Colette'

Friday

Sep 28, 2018 at 5:01 AM

By Dana Barbuto/The Patriot Ledger

Why be normal? Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, France’s most celebrated female author, certainly wasn’t. She was an unconventional woman, yet director-writer Wash Westmoreland paints a by-the-numbers portrait of her in “Colette.” From eschewing corsets to dalliances with women to ghostwriting the smash “Claudine” series, Colette defied convention. Bored by the shallowness and pretension of Parisian society at the turn of the 20th century, she did not succumb to what the haut monde expected. By the time actress Keira Knightley is done with Colette, you’ll be empowered and fascinated, in spite of Westmoreland’s (“Still Alice”) attempt to lock his subject in a neat genre box.

In a performance that crackles, Knightley takes Colette from a naïve country girl to the toast of Paris, and beyond. It’s a showy part with strong feminist leanings that fit squarely in the heart of the #TimesUp movement. It’s a journey of awakening, sexual and otherwise, ultimately ending in a place where Colette is accepted for her own interests, achievements and behaviors. She’s a mime, lesbian, writer and actress, all of which were at one point or another criticized by her cad of a husband (a terrific Dominic West), who considered her to be mostly improper or weird.

Westmoreland’s script plays it safe, charting Colette’s life in chronological order to hit the high notes. The film opens in 1892 in the Paris countryside. Gabrielle (she’ll go by Colette later) and her parents are awaiting the fourth visit from a viable suitor, Willy, a successful older portly Parisian man of letters sporting a swirly moustache and a rascally grin. West infuses the part with just the right amount of smugness. They sneak off to the barn for a literal poke in the hay. She says: "All those women of Paris … I must have something …” She does: youth, which is Willy’s weakness. He likes them young, needy and subservient, all the better to manipulate and mold. By the next year, Gabrielle and her “slippery eel” are hitched, living in the city, running amok on the avant-garde circuit. Willy cheats – a lot. Marriage turns out not to be what she imagined. Trust yourself, her mom (Fiona Shaw) offers, “Let marriage get used to you.”

Facing money woes, Willy convinces Colette to write a semi-autobiographical novel about a brazen country coquette named Claudine. The book is published in 1898 and it becomes an instant sensation. Willy demands a sequel and locks her in a room, insisting she “aim for four hours a day” of writing. The sequel goes more viral and a marketing machine also turns out Claudine soaps, lingerie and perfume. Paris is all “atwitter,” slick Willy declares in a nod to today’s social media culture. Westmoreland does that a lot. His movie is rich in turn-of-the-century mood and details, yet completely current.

Eventually Colette grows tired of living on Willy’s “long leash” and with his misogyny where he uses phrases like “I forbid you.” They’ll clash over his infidelity, her theatrical aspirations, their open marriage, and the creative ownership of the novels. Such a snake is Willy that he sleeps with the same American debutante (Eleanor Tomlinson) that his wife is hooking up with. A more serious relationship develops between Colette and the androgynous Mathilde de Morny, or Missy (Denise Gough). During a pantomime play at the Moulin Rouge they share a kiss onstage that causes police to halt the production. Smartly, Westmoreland, who co-wrote the script with his late husband, Richard Glatzer, doesn’t try to pack too much into the film by covering Colette’s whole life – that would be 30 books and eight decades. He wisely ends the narrative with Colette writing “The Vagabond,” about her music hall days.

No actress has proven more suitable for period pieces than Knightley (“Atonement,” “Anna Karenina,” “Pride and Prejudice”), who swallows up roles from behind the hair, makeup and costumes. She’ll flash that genuine, endearing smile, seductive eyes and go from wholesome to sensual in the change of a scene. Colette is a big character, and Knightley goes all-in. It’s her best performance since 2014’s “The Imitation Game,” which earned her a supporting actress Oscar nomination. When Knightley breaks free and takes down West in the film’s climactic scene, it’s a victory for women. It’s strong and powerful acting.

There are a few instances where the script recalls the saying, “he who has the pen writes history.” But Colette certainly left her mark, busting through the long-held patriarchal notion that “lady writers don’t sell.” Her most famous work was the novella “Gigi,” adapted into the 1958 Hollywood musical that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. So maybe it should be “SHE who has the pen writes history.”